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I'm sorry if this question is answered somewhere, but I'm not getting it: if I sysprep an existing Windows installation, will the resulting image include all my other installed software?

My objective is to essentially clone my drive to another PC which has nearly identical hardware. I already went through the process of installing Windows (8.1 pro, x64) and other software. (I'm a student in a research lab, and we recently acquired 2 barebones computers. I installed software like LabView, Matlab, etc.) I would really hate to have to sit through all this again. I was told that using Sysprep is what I need. So, is sysprep the right tool for my scenario? If I sysprep the current install, make the image, and put it on the other PC, will all the other software be there?

(Btw, the differences in hardware are different RAM sticks/specs and HDD instead of SSD.)

I'm sorry if this question is answered somewhere, but I'm not getting it: if I sysprep an existing Windows installation, will the resulting image include all my other installed software?

My objective is to essentially clone my drive to another PC which has nearly identical hardware. I already went through the process of installing Windows (8.1 pro, x64) and other software. (I'm a student in a research lab, and we recently acquired 2 barebones computers. I installed software like LabView, Matlab, etc.) I would really hate to have to sit through all this again. I was told that using Sysprep is what I need. So, is sysprep the right tool for my scenario? If I sysprep the current install, make the image, and put it on the other PC, will all the other software be there?

(Btw, the differences in hardware are different RAM sticks/specs and HDD instead of SSD.)

EDIT: I forgot to mention that Method 2 in above linked tutorial is best for you.

Thank you! From searching I found this thread before I found the one that you linked.

Okay, what about this? If I follow steps 1-5 in method 1, then I disconnect the SSD from PC 1 (which is the one that is already all set up), take the HDD from PC 2 (the target), then connect both drives into a third computer, and then use some cloning software to copy everything, including boot sector, to the empty HDD from PC 2? Oh, I guess I would need to format the empty HDD first. Would this work?

I'm sorry if this question is answered somewhere, but I'm not getting it: if I sysprep an existing Windows installation, will the resulting image include all my other installed software?

My objective is to essentially clone my drive to another PC which has nearly identical hardware. I already went through the process of installing Windows (8.1 pro, x64) and other software. (I'm a student in a research lab, and we recently acquired 2 barebones computers. I installed software like LabView, Matlab, etc.) I would really hate to have to sit through all this again. I was told that using Sysprep is what I need. So, is sysprep the right tool for my scenario? If I sysprep the current install, make the image, and put it on the other PC, will all the other software be there?

(Btw, the differences in hardware are different RAM sticks/specs and HDD instead of SSD.)

EDIT: I forgot to mention that Method 2 in above linked tutorial is best for you.

In addition to what is said earlier:

I only recommended the other tutorial because you told you have already installed software on one computer and would like to use that image to deploy it to other computers. I prefer creating the image for deployment in a computer with no existing user profiles, while installing Windows on a reference computer. This tutorial you are reading now shows how it's done in both Windows 7 and 8, but as the procedure is almost the same on both you could also have a look of this more complete walkthrough tutorial for Windows 7: Windows 7 Image - Customize in Audit Mode with Sysprep

Especially the shorter video (#2) in it might give you more insight for this whole procedure.

Sysprep with Generalize switch has removed all hardware related information including drivers, so you start with general built-in Windows drivers. Anyway, Windows 7 is pretty good in finding and installing correct device drivers by itself. Here's how I do it:

After image is deployed to another computer, boot normally

In most cases with modern hardware, Windows has found (almost) all drivers, but to be sure I always check the Device Manager

If there are missing SMB Bus and / or USB drivers (these usually reveal missing chipset driver), get chipset drivers from manufacturer's site and install

The same with video, audio, USB3, card reader etc. drivers. Check if missing, if yes get them and install

Don't forget to run optional updates from Windows Update as they very often contain device drivers

After I restore the drive image (I used Paragon) to the second computer, upon first boot I get a screen asking me which operating system to choose. It says: "Choose an operating system" The options are "Windows 8.1" and "Windows 8.1 on volume 4"

Regardless of which one I pick I get an error. It says "Windows could not finish configuring the system. To attempt to resume configuration, restart the computer." Clicking Okay restarts the computer, and then the same thing happens. It's a death loop.

Btw, I used the Paragon Linux-based recover disk, not the WinPE one. The WinPE disk image provided in the Macrium tutorial by whs is broken. I downloaded and burned it twice and both times it simply locked up when attempting to boot off it. I doubt that both times I corrupted my download or my burn process. I'll try making the WinPE disk from scratch and see how it goes.

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